2008 the 'œyear of the smartphone' says Telsyte

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 20 October 2008 15:37

IT Industry - Strategy

Despite smartphones clearly being more popular than ever, there’s clearly still lots of “first-time smartphone users” out there, and still to come.

After all, regular not-so-smart phones that are great for calls and SMS but not email or web browsing are out there, with many people experiencing a true smartphone for the first time with the advent of the iPhone.

This is where Telsyte sees “a large untapped market opportunity” –  around entry-level, first-time smartphone users, a segment receptive to advertising and location-based services.

For business users, it looks like it’s all about using smartphones in a smarter manner, taking advantage of “multi-mode (3G/WiFi) connectivity, mobile PBX and mobile VoIP functionality”.

Meanwhile, consumer smartphone users are said to be highly interested in “mobile instant messaging, search, maps and email applications”.

Telsyte says this “represents good news for consumer marketing groups who are constantly looking for ways to gain consumer attention.”

The findings in question come from Telsyte’s latest research report titled, “Comparative Analysis of Australian Smartphones and Vendors, 3Q2008”.

Telsyte is clearly hoping that “organisations planning to mobile their workforce with smartphone technologies” decides the report is worth investing in for more details.

This report is meant to provided “an authoritative assessment of Australian smartphone market developments and reviews Australia’s latest smartphone features and application capabilities” while also discussing “the changing landscape of the mobile operating system market, business and consumer preferences for smartphones and their perceptions on the vendors, as well as their preferences for segmented content.”

2008 may well be the year of the smartphone, but it also the year of the netbook, both of which are “mobile Internet devices” (MIDs) even if the netbook needs a Wi-Fi or 3.5G connection to go online.

Unless the economic crises really throws things off the rails, it looks like 2009 and 2010 will continue being great years for the smartphone and MID segments too!